Prometheus' Plea: Revenge of the Punished
by BigBadBookworm
Summary: Before all of the monsters attacked, Logan Daniels had an ordinary life. Upon the discovery of his godly heritage, he joins his friend Claire's quest for The Scroll of History. At least, until he decides to hear out the noble plea of a vengeful Titan. R&R
1. PingPong with the Giants

My name is Logan Daniels.

Before I lost my title as the ping-pong champion at Ridrik High, my life was pretty good. I was a sophomore in high school, top of my class, and, until today, captain of the ping-pong team. And to think the day started so wonderfully, but it ended very, _very _badly_. _My downfall really began during lunch in the middle of a very serious conversation.

"I'm telling you for the last time Collin, _Harry Potter _is ten times better than _The Lord of the Rings _will ever be!" Brian insisted angrily, slamming his hairy fist on the table.

"Dude, cool it! You spilled my chocolate milk," Collin complained as he dabbed up the contents of his overturned carton. "And no way!" he continued. "_The Lord of the Rings _is based off of the _Volsungasaga_, a very important historical document. _Harry Potter _is just a school full of pansies pointing sticks at each other and yelling gibberish!"

"Oh cut it out you two. _The Hunger Games _is ten times better than the both of them," Claire chided from beside Logan at the two across the table.

These are my friends. Yes, we are nerds. No, we're not the pocket protectors and buck teeth kind. Just the social outcasts who banded together so we didn't have to sit alone at lunch. Trust me, there's nothing worse than bad food and no one to talk to.

I Logan preside over the group as their fearless leader, a position that was more or less thrown upon me. I was the reason the group came together after all. Perhaps there was a raffle or secret election to declare me their overlord, but I'm not sure.

Collin Davis was the newest to the group. I picked him up in the beginning of Freshman year. He was a small, gothic guy with long greasy black hair and eyes the color of charcoal. He couldn't have had many friends before high school. Tell you the truth, he kind of scares me a little. But, then again, everything scares him.

I've known Brian Wood far longer. It was four years ago on the first day of seventh grade when I first met him. Small little guy, but he already was sporting some whiskers. Brian has a weird leg condition and walks with a bit of a limp. This made him an easy target for the school bullies. I always was the biggest guy in the grade and stood up for him. We've been best friends ever since.

As for Claire Reader, I really can't remember how long that I've known her. Something tells me that it was for a really long time, but I can't draw up specific memories from before this year. It's like, I felt she was there but just can't see her. But, I never did have the best memory. I could've sworn I knew her before Brian, but they always seemed to go way back. Perhaps he introduced me to her. Doesn't really matter though.

She always was kind of the misfit of the group. Misfit in the best possibly way, of course. She's incredibly athletic, talented, and downright beautiful. The only way she remotely fits in is because she is a major band geek. She can play any instrument that you put in front of her as though she'd been doing it her whole life. She's kind of obsessed with music. Always humming some little ditty. With long blonde hair, perfect blue eyes, and being overall pretty awesome, she could easily do better than our measly group. But I'm not complaining. I'm glad she stays.

It's not just that I enjoy her company. At first I just liked her as I would any other friend, I mean, you've got to like your friends, but over the course of this last year the feelings grew stronger. Butterflies in my stomach. Frogs in my throat. I'd need to make a call to animal control to fix all the issues. The only person I've told about this is Brian, but he seems surprisingly opposed to the idea. I thought it was like an understood law of guyhood that you support the romantic interests of others. He always just said, "It's for the best," and left it at that. What does Brian know though? All that the scruffy guy cares about is what we're having for lunch.

But when I think about it, I really don't have much of a chance with her. She is practically a goddess, but I'm nothing more than a nerd whose only talent is being good with a screwdriver. I can do practically anything with a screwdriver and a little time. To be quite frank, I'm not incredibly good looking. Just average with long brown hair and eyes to match. The only thing even slightly exceptional about me is my size and strength.

"Whatever! Katniss is such an unrealistic character." Collin argued as our conversation continued.

"And Gandalf's furry toed little munchkins are realistic?" Claire countered sarcastically.

I tried to maintain a neutral position on such an important discussion and refused to argue anyone's side in the discussion. My opinion would inevitably be biased.

It was about the time that Brian had Collin in a chokehold to entice a change of heart when Otus and Chia arrived in the lunch room with their signature idiotic grins. It wouldn't be half bad if they had decent teeth, but considering they were two of the biggest and most aggressive linemen on the football team, dental surgery didn't really seem all that worth it, seeing as they would only be knocked out again. They both had to duck to get through doorways and walked with a hunch like Quasimodo.

I had been tinkering with my newest project before they approached. Essentially I'm "pimping out" an old remote control car that I found at thrift store. Only ran me a dollar fifty, but wouldn't you know it, at first the thing wouldn't even work. But, needless to say, I finally put some life back into and rewired it. So far, I've given it everything from both front and rear view camera's with live feed to my remote to a speaker system with a mike and enough horsepower to pull a large load under the right conditions. Seeing the potential destruction that Otus and Chia could cause, I quickly stashed it in my backpack.

"What do you two want?" Claire demanded as they approached, taking charge as usual. She very clearly tensed at the sight of them, and Brian quickly let go of Collin and shook in his seat. Our group has had some bad run-ins with these guys before, and we were in no mood to confront them again. Cleaning toilet water off Collin was only fun once.

"Nuthin'" Chia said with a deep gravelly voice. That dumb grin never left his face. The guy wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he'd break one of your bones in a heartbeat.

"Can't we just come and have a chat with our good friends?" Otus asked innocently in an equally earthy voice. They both sat down at the table opposite each other, Otus squeezing in beside Claire and Chia beside Collin. I felt sorry for both of them. A mutual chill went down all of their backs, and we shared the same thought, _This isn't going to end well_. "Heard you losers are pretty good at ping-pong. Football practice is cancelled this afternoon, so we'd like to join you for a game, if you don't mind. Might even try out for the team."

The whole point of their ping-pong team was to get out of the mandatory after school athletics program. If you weren't involved in a sport, then you were forced to be in a crowd with the rest of your sweaty grade and do meaningless stretches and exercises. Not exactly our cup of tea. Thus the ping-pong team was born. Collin stumbled upon the table in one of the disused rooms in the old gym, and the idea grew from there. We've been goofing off playing ping-pong in the afternoon for over a year now. And even though we aren't too serious about it, we're pretty good.

"Absolutely no-" Brian began in protest before I cut him off.

"Fine," I agreed simply. The rest of the group sputtered their protests, but I continued anyway, "Claire and I will take you on if it's a place on the team you want. Beat us, and you've got it." I was fairly confident that Claire and I could beat the snot out of the two thickheads. Sure, they were bigger… And stronger… And bench pressed with bleachers… But I decided they were undoubtedly a lot slower too. I myself am not exceptionally fast, but once Claire gets going, all that's visible is a blur. It's actually kind of scary how good she is. Plus, with the modifications that I'd made to my paddle, no one could beat me. It's why I'm the captain.

"Good," Chia said slowly, his dumb grin now a wicked one. I couldn't help but notice a brief look exchanged between Brian and Claire. It was as though they knew something he didn't. It made me uneasy, but I ignored it.

"See you then," Otus assured us with an equally wicked grin. The two gargantuan goons then rose, being sure to shake the table in the process, completely emptying Collin's milk carton, and stalked off to another side of the lunch room to torment some other poor defenseless kid.

"Are you out of your mind, Logan?" Brian demanded as soon as the two were out of ear shot. "Those guys are going to kill us! All they want is to catch us alone!"

"Yeah, dude, mundo bad idea! This is worse than the time that General Motti insulted Darth Vader!" Collin said, freaking out a little. "It's only going to end badly for us! Remember the last time? The bathroom incident?"

I had to stifle a chuckle at that. It actually was pretty funny. "Don't worry you guys," I said reassuringly. "Claire and I can handle these numbskulls. Right Claire?" I asked turning to her for support. Surely she wasn't a scaredy cat. But on her face I found not agreement but a worried frown.

"You have no idea what you're up against, Logan," she said seriously. "We should not show up this afternoon. It'll only end badly. We can't beat them."

"Yeah!" Brian agreed, nodding furiously, his curly hair bouncing with his head. "What she said. They'll cream you guys! And not into the good kind of cream!"

I stared at him in confusion for a moment. "What's the good kind?" I asked out of pure curiosity.

"You know, like vanilla or chocolate. You guys will be pummeled into like pistachio or something like that."

"I see," I said, still not sure that Brian knew what he was talking about.

"I kind of like pistachio…" Collin mumbled quietly, resulting in a stare of disbelief from all at the table.

"Anyways," Claire continued without missing a beat. "It's almost time for Christmas break. Those guys will only ruin your Christmas spirit. You should be more concerned with getting pumped for the camp that we've been telling you about," she said enthusiastically. As usual, Brian affirmed everything Claire said.

"And what a better way to end our break than by beating these guys in a game of ping-pong?" I asked with a grin. "This is our game. We've got this. First we'll show the Neanderthals who's boss, then we'll chill at this camp you guys talk about so much for the next two weeks." Even though they talked about it a lot, I still know almost nothing about it. I'm not too concerned though.

"The sooner we get there the better," Brian said rather ominously. The closer it got to Christmas break, the more comments like these he seemed to make. In fact, he and Claire did seem a bit more on edge lately. I brushed it off as them being excited for a break from school.

The ring of a loud bell signaled the end of the lunch period and a five minute break before the next class. I'd already taken my tray and was ready to roll. I couldn't help but overhear Claire whisper, "Today," to Brian. Codeword perhaps? I wasn't sure, but I looked at Collin and said, "Fish sticks," with a very serious look on my face just to throw them off. I wasn't about to be outdone.

Of course, Collin had to go and ruin it by saying, "What?" but oh well.

"Meet you over at the gym after class," I said as a brief goodbye and quickly headed towards the door, not wanting to be late. My schedule doesn't correspond with my friends for many classes, as most of them had quite a bit of trouble paying attention in class. Something about ADHD or ADD some other acronym invented as an excuse for laziness. It' not easy for me either, but I manage it a lot better and was put in more difficult classes. I looked back only for a moment and saw Claire and Brian whispering something to each other frantically again. I was beginning to get a little suspicious, but I had algebra to keep my mind busy.

My next three classes were all rather dull and seemed to drone on forever. My only comic relief the whole time was in ethics class, which I have with Brian. It's hard for me to pay attention with Brian sitting beside me gnawing through all of the pencils in his case. I always thought it was just a nervous tick because he had a crush on the teacher, Ms. Rose, but he genuinely seems to enjoy them. Who was I to ruin his fun?

Luckily, ethics was the last class of the day, so we could walk over to the gym together. It was better to travel in packs around this place.

"Are you seriously going to go through with this, Logan?" Brian asked with a quiver in his voice referring to ping-pong. "I talked to Claire and we think that we might be able to take our break a little early. All of our exams are done for the semester, and we have enough sick days saved up to take off for the rest of the week," he explained urgently as they neared the gym. "Claire has even set up a means of transportation for us to leave today. But if we're going to do this, we need to leave now."

"And miss out on our ping-pong game? I think not," I said and never broke out of my long stride. Brian seemed to be almost galloping to keep up. "Wait a minute. How has she already set a means transportation up? It's like a four hour drive from Boston to New York. No one in their right mind is going to agree to that kind of trip last minute," I asked rather puzzled. "Kind of unnecessary."

"Oh, it's necessary," Brian assured me. "And she knows people." Our pace had slowed since we had reached the gym. Something about the way he said that sent a shiver down my spine. It was finally getting through to me how bad of an idea this may be. But oh well. No backing out now.

"I didn't think you'd be able to talk him out of it," Claire said with a sigh as we arrived at the door of ping-pong room.

"I tried!" Brian said, defensively crossing his arms. "He's intent on playing this game."

"Well, I guess we'll be doing this the hard way," she resigned and readjusted the little yellow clip that she always wore in her hair. I can't think of a time that I've seen her with out it.

"Surely you're not scared too," I said to her jokingly as we all passed through the door. "Just one game. Then we're out," he assured them.

"If we make it out of here," Claire said in that same ominous tone that Brian used earlier. This was really starting to get on my nerves.

"I hear that you called up some last minute transportation," I said, just trying to get off the subject of the ping-pong game. "How'd you work that out? Didn't even think about calling our parents first? I can't exactly just pick up and leave whenever I want."

"I just called in a favor from my friend Butch," she explained. She looked really nervous, staring at the door as though it was going to explode. I could have sworn she was going to have a heart attack when Collin busted through the door.

He was panting pretty hard and had to take a few puffs from his emergency inhaler. Asthmatic. "Oh, good. You guys- aren't dead- yet. I -was worried- I was- going to miss- the game. Mrs. Harper- held me back- a few minutes- after class- to discuss- my performance," he said in-between gasps.

"Nope, you're just in time for the manslaughter," Brian said pessimistically. At that moment, the door slammed open revealing Otus and Chia, both dressed in football gear. It was as though he sensed their presence. The fact they were wearing their uniform confused me. I thought football was cancelled today.

"Let's get started. First to eleven wins," Otus said immediately with no lack of saliva, his blue mouth guard bending in the shape of a half-moon. That same stupid grin. His eagerness was a little unsettling, but I wasn't going to let them play mind games with me. Claire and Brian both had the same terrified look on their faces, but I grabbed Claire's arm to snap her out of it. We had a game to win.

She turned and looked at me with a sad expression, but she quickly pulled herself together, grabbed a paddle, and took her stance at the table just as we had rehearsed. She wasn't going to let whatever was bugging her mess up her game. I was glad for this, because by this time, I was beginning to have second thoughts. No turning back now.

"Thanks," I muttered before taking my spot beside her. Even if she didn't know what I meant, I felt the need to say it. Otus and Chia approached the opposite end of the table and took hold of the preplaced paddles. Chia rolled his neck to crack it, and Otus drew a ping-pong ball out of one of his pant pockets. I couldn't figure out why they thought to bring their own balls, considering they knew we had plenty. But then it hit me. Literally.

"We'll serve first," Otus offered, and gave the ball to Chia. He took it, threw it up in the air, and slammed it faster and harder than I ever would have thought possible. If he only worked on his aim, he'd be the best in the league, because the ball completely missed the table and nailed me dead center in the forehead.

I stumbled back, feeling as though I'd just had a bad run in with the school baseball team's best batter. I was certain that I was going to have major brain damage after that. The ball landed on the ground with an unfamiliar clunk, and it rested where it hit. As I held my aching head, I leaned down to pick up the ball, but I swear it weighed at least a pound or two. It had to be a solid ball of lead or something like that.

"Logan, are you alright?" came the almost unanimous cry from Collin, Brian, and Claire. Claire knelt down and wrapped her arm around me for support. Too bad I was seeing too many stars to enjoy it.

"Never better," I mumbled as I staggered back to the table and glared at the two buffoons. Of course they were both laughing their heads off and already had another ball ready to serve. _These balls were going to go right through my paddle upon a direct impact,_ I thought to myself with concern. Excuse to push a button. "1-0," I said reluctantly and pressed one of the many the small buttons on the edge of my paddle. After a few metallic clicks, the plates of the blade of my paddle split apart opening a gap to be filled by several springs. Perhaps enough to absorb the force.

This time Otus served, and it was just as powerful as Chia's. Claire, being a lot faster than I was beat me to this one, and as I expected, the ball knocked a whole in the middle of her paddle and hit the wall behind us. She didn't even flinch. Brian, who was presently quivering in a corner with Collin, threw her another, and she was ready to go again.

"2-0," she said through gritted teeth and blew the hair out of her eyes.

Chia dished out their final serve, and I finally was able to make contact with the ball, though it hit so hard that it jarred my hand, leaving it aching, even with the added measure of the springs. Claire must have been miserable. But, after a worrisome crack and a satisfying "Doink," the ball returned to the other side. Not expecting this whatsoever, Otus and Chia didn't even attempt to hit it back. They just stood there dumfounded.

"2-1," I said triumphantly, and retrieved a normal ping-pong ball. It was our serve, and there's no way I could hit the lead balls like they did. This was our grand opportunity to rack up some points, as they were no match for our speed. I handed the ball to Claire, and she served it practically before it left my hand. They didn't even have the opportunity to hit it back.

"2-2," she said with a grin, while Otus and Chia fumed. They started threatening each other and making guttural sounds.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, I served, knowing I could never do as well as Claire, and happily announced, "2-3." Was it cheating? Maybe. Was I going to take it? Absolutely.

Though, perhaps this wasn't my best idea. Now the two of them were shaking mad, not happy at all that we were in the lead. I gave the ball to Claire for our last serve, and once again, it went flying. Only this time, Chia made the mistake of swinging at it. Obviously, he missed by a long shot, but in the middle of his wild flailing, he managed to clock Otus in the back of the head with his paddle.

They went from having a heated argument to a full-blown fight in the blink of eye. Exchanging kicks and punches like there was no tomorrow. We were all just thankful to be on the opposite side of the room. It was actually quite entertaining before they started throwing things.

I don't remember much about the next few moments. Just an enraged yell, a floor waxer that seemed to be growing ever larger, and something about a duck. The only other thing I remember is going through a door the hard way and being sandwiched in between the waxer and a cold metal contraption. At that point, I lost consciousness.


	2. Pony Ride with Captain Rainbow

It was during my state of unconsciousness, that I had the first of many dreams to come. At first there was nothing abnormal about the dream at all. Bad timing, but relatively normal. I was just standing in the middle of a clearing in the woods. Beside me there was a still, reflective pool of water surrounded on all sides by a beautiful white flower. I'm not a florist, so I couldn't tell you what kind it was.

There wasn't a sound to be heard, no birds chirping, not even a gentle breeze to stir the leaves of the surrounding trees. On an impulse I walked over to the pool and gazed into its depths. I stared into the eyes of my reflection for a moment, before I noticed there was another reflection in the pool next to mine. That of young guy who couldn't be much older than I am. I looked up and around but there was no one to be found in the clearing, so I looked into the pool again.

The boy was still there looking up at me with bored eyes. I waved to him, and he returned the gesture. His hair seemed to wave with an unfelt wind, and I could just make out the reflection of birds that were not on my side of the reflection. He looked as though he was wanting to tell me something but could not speak. I stared at him for a moment before he gestured towards the other side of the water.

I followed his point to out of the pool, into the clearing, and to the edge of the wood. There I witnessed a sheep walk timidly out of the tree into the open. Only, it wasn't quite the typical sheep one might stumble upon. It seemed considerably bigger than any sheep I'd ever seen before. It was eating its green vegetables, that's for sure. But that wasn't the most interesting part. Its coat seemed to be made of gold and sparkled in the sun light.

At first I could look upon it with no problem, but it seemed to be growing ever brighter, and I had to shield my eyes. When the burn set in I looked away in fear, thinking about jumping into the pool to save myself. Right before I plunged myself into the waters, I glanced at the boy in the pool who seemed to be waving goodbye. I stared at him in confusion for a moment, before the light became to bright to even see. I closed my eyes and was overwhelmed by the blinding white light.

When I had the courage to open my eyes again, I was back in the school gymnasium. It took me a moment to get a bearing on my surroundings. I blinked a couple of times to clear my vision. I couldn't remember what was happening. Something about ping-pong and water fowl? I had a massive head-ache and there was this burning sensation in my back.

I was in a room made entirely of concrete, and the door was a solid slab of metal, but it had an enormous dent in it and hung loosely on its hinges. Beyond the door was a spectacle that took me a moment to decipher. I couldn't quite make out exactly what everyone was saying because there was so much commotion. My memories began to slowly ebb back when I saw that Otus and Chia were still in the room, only they seemed to have gotten even bigger and uglier than normal, if that was possible. The harder I looked, the clearer the scenario became.

What I at first glance took to be football gear was slowly turning into what appeared some ancient armor. After a couple of seconds, Otus and Chia were covered in head to toe in the stuff and were wielding spears of some sort. They seemed to be growing a foot a minute. I was really confused now and was getting worried that I hit my head a lot harder than I thought.

But that wasn't even the weirdest part. The two giants were attacking my friends, and in any other circumstance, they would have been creamed, but oddly enough, my friends were fighting back. Not just with anything that was laying around though. Claire had pulled a bow seemingly out of no where and was firing volley after volley into the Neanderthals, which seemed rather medieval to me but whatever works. Brian was dancing around like he had to go to the bathroom playing this little flute as plants erupted from the tile flooring and tried constricting the giants to no avail.

I looked around for Collin too, expecting him to have whipped a sword out of his back pocket, but he was no where to be found. I should have figured as much, he always was a bit of a coward, but, hey, who could blame him?

I couldn't quite believe what was going on before me, but I had to try to do something. Claire's arrows were doing practically nothing, and Brian couldn't hold them forever. It wasn't until then that I really took a moment to look around and discover that I was in the old boiler room. The rest of the school was heated by electric or natural gas, but the gym was so old it wasn't worth the money to replace it. Honestly, I'd forgotten it was here. And once I put two and two together, I realized why my back was burning so badly.

Now that my senses were returning to me, the pain became even more severe, and I quickly pushed myself off the ground, which turned out to be a bad idea. The sudden movement made my head swirl and ache.

"Die half-blood scum," screamed Otus as he hurled his spear towards Claire, who screamed in fear and ducked quickly. Her reflexes were incredible! It was too bad that mine weren't as good because the spear soared straight through the boiler room door and into me. Luckily, I had the sense to try and move out of the way so it only grazed my shoulder. Well, I say it grazed it, but, in actuality, it almost took it off. I could feel a warm liquid running down my arm, but I was too afraid to look at it. No one else noticed as they all had enough to worry about.

That's when the horrible realization sunk in. We were going to die in a smelly room in the back of a gym. Not exactly how I was expecting to go out. I figured it would be out of old age or as a war hero, but not by a couple of toothless football players. There was no way that Brian and Claire could hold them off much longer, so I had to act fast or we'd all be toast. If arrows to the heart weren't doing it, then we'd have to take a more modern approach. I scoured the room for anything sharp or a potential weapon. All that I could find was a red tipped spear, which made me sick to look at, and I eliminated it as a weapon.

After a final desperate search, I found that the real weapon was hidden in plain sight. I turned to the boiler and an evil grin spread across my face. I quickly found all of the valves that control the pressure in the steamer and tightened them all of the way, removing any safety that they provided. In a few minutes, this thing was going to blow. After I finished modifying the boiler, it hit me that the boiler wasn't just going to kill the brutes. We were all going to die.

In hindsight, this probably made the list of my top five bad ideas of all time. But hey, what choice did I have?

It was about this time that things went from bad to worse for me. I looked up from the safety valves only to find another spear rocketing my way. Luckily I'd learned my lesson and was much more prepared to dodge this one. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of my troubles. Eager to retrieve their spears, Otus and Chia lowered their shoulders line-backer style and charged towards the boiler room. Claire and Brian ducked out of the way, barely avoiding being smashed to pudding, but left the path to me wide open.

I had to think fast. They were on a direct course to collide with the boiler and any more pressure on the shell was bound to make it pop. I quickly assessed my odds of surviving, which I calculated to be zero. But I could still help Brian and Claire.

Boiler rooms were designed to withstand this kind of explosion! Three feet of concrete in the walls and a 4 inches of reinforced steel for the door. I not-so-nimbly darted out of the door way, and just as the two giants lumbered in I slammed the door behind them, locking all three of us in. I strained to keep the door close as the large dent made it bulge out, and the two impacted the boiler with staggering force. The searing metal scorched their skin, and the hiss of escaping gases was lost in their cries of agony. This was it. This is where I died.

"Oh, you're in for it now, half-blood," Otus growled, sneering his face that was only made uglier by a horrible burn that now ran across his face.

"Yeah!" chimed Chia, who was considerably more disfigured from the heat.

"That's what you think, you big idiots!" I countered proudly. "If I'm going down your going with me!" That last bit was a bit muffled as Chia lifted me by the throat and slammed me into the door, effectively knocking the dent back in the process.

Otus opened his mouth to speak, but I'm afraid he never got a word out. Just as Chia pulled back his fist and prepared to clobber me, things heated up a bit. Again, I was slammed against the door, and again, things went a little fuzzy (I really hope I don't make a habit of this). The boiler exploded with tremendous force knocking all three of us into the wall, only I was crushed underneath the weight of linebackers from hell and could feel the pressure on my bones mounting. Shrapnel cut through the air in all directions, and another pair of explosions lit the room with a bright flame. After this, the weight lifted and all was still.

A golden light and dust filled the air, and I would have sworn that I died and went to heaven. Little did I know that we were dealing with different gods entirely. Thankfully, I managed to stay conscious for this next bit, but my head ached from the encounter with the metal, and my skin burned from the heat of the explosion. I laid crumpled against the door until someone pushed it gently aside, and a familiar head popped into the room. Never in my life have I been so happy to see those shining blue eyes.

The angel that floated in only confirmed my assumption of death, but I'd happily fly away with her. My heart swooned as she lifted me to my feet and held me in her arms. I prepared for our ascent into the skies before our beautiful moment was rudely interrupted by my third and final encounter with that stupid door.

"Logan!" Brian bleated as he ran threw the door open, slamming it into us. My legs buckled, but Claire wouldn't let me fall. Man, that girl is strong. Brian muscled in on the hug to and was on the verge of tears. "I'm so sorry, Logan! I thought I'd lost you! I thought I'd failed! I was so close and I almost failed my first mission! Are you okay? Can I get you anything? A glass of -"

"Can it, Brian," I interrupted for the sake of my aching head and stood on my own. I wiggled my way out of their embrace and limped out of the boiler room. They tried to help me, but I pushed them away and gently sat down in a chair. I took a few seconds to regain my composure, the two of them staring at me the entire time, before I found the energy to speak again.

"I think that you two owe me an explanation."

"Of course," Claire reassured me. "But first we have to get out! They know that we're here now. It's far too dangerous to stay. We have to get to Camp Half-Blood now!"

"Half-blood," I said, rolling the words off my tongue. Something magical seemed to resonate with it. "That's what Otus and Chia called you. 'Half-blood scum.' What is that?"

"We don't have time for this, Logan," Brian squeaked. "We have to find Collin and leave pronto!"

"I'm not going anywhere until I get some answers!" I yelled as I rose to my feet. This turned out to be number five on my list of bad ideas of all time because the world began spinning, and I immediately collapsed. Claire tried to help, but I refused. I got back in the seat and wait for the world to settle.

"Look, Logan," Claire began. "I know that you're confused, but we're your friends, and we need you to trust us. Chiron will explain everything once we get to camp, but for now we really have to go. Butch is waiting outside with the pegasi. Collin should already be out there waiting to go. Please, Logan."

Gah… She always did have a way of getting into my head. There was no way that I could say no to her. Without a word, I rose once more with both of their help, and we made our way out the door. "Don't think that this means you win…" I muttered under my breath. Claire only smiled.

Needless to say, I was very confused at this point. I'd survived a battle with two of the ugliest humans I'd ever met, survived a fiery explosion in the boiler room, and was now on my way to hitch a ride on some pegasi. My life was getting weirder and weirder. Could have been worse though! Best friend on one arm, the girl of my dreams on the other. It's not a bad life.

Walking proved to be quite the ordeal for me, and I was becoming ever more aware of the searing pain in my shoulder. Claire was constantly peeking around corners or shifting her eyes from side to side on the look out for something. The light from the outside hurt my eyes as we walked into the fresh air. I opened them to find a stocky, bald kid with a rainbow tattooed on his bicep tending to a few winged horses that were harnessed to a chariot that looked like it belonged in the coliseum. Collin stood off to the side nervously, but he shouted when he saw us come out the door.

"Hey! They didn't cream you guys too badly did they? Oh gosh, Logan, you don't look so hot. Man, they got us good. We should have known better than to accept that ping-pong challenge…"

Clearly Collin was still a bit oblivious that something more was going on here. Not me though. No way they could pull the wool over my eyes now. No sense in upsetting Collin any more than he already was though.

"I'm fine," I assured him with a nod. "Just lost my title as ping pong champion, I guess. Those guys were pretty good."

"Pretty good?" he exclaimed. "More like fan-freaking-tastic. No offense, but you guys never stood a chance." He continued rambling on about practicing more while we were at camp. The rest of us just kind of nodded occasionally and tuned him out. There were more important matters at hand.

"Claire!" the bald dude shouted, finally noticing us. "What happened? You should have called me to help! I felt a tremor, like an explosion or something. Is everyone alright?"

"We're going to be fine," Claire replied, "We just have to get these two out of here."

"Wait, this is our ride?" Collin asked. "Kind of lame, don't you think. I mean, I appreciate the ode to the 1850's, but we're never going to get anywhere on this old wagon." I may not have been completely up to date, on everything, but even I could tell this was no ordinary chariot. We were riding in style if those wings weren't for show. Maybe Collin couldn't see this either. It was all rather difficult to take in.

"I should probably call my mom to let her know that I'm leaving now," I said longingly. Something told me that I wasn't going to see my mother for a very long time.

"No!" Claire said immediately, fear running across her face. "We don't have time. Everyone needs to get on the chariot now."

"And, it's all good, Logan," Collin added. "I called all both of our parents while you guys were out to let them know that we were leaving early. Your mom was a bit upset, but it's nothing to worry about. She sends her love."

"You did what?" Claire asked in astonishment. "How?"

"Cell phone? Duh."

"Oh, this is not good. This is not good at all. I was so close!" Brian cried again as he began to look around frantically. "It's all over." Clair looked around in the same panicked manner and seemed to freeze when she saw three birds in the distance.

"Everyone into the chariot! Now!"

We all scrambled to hop on the chariot, and Butch took the reins. Claire fumbled nervously with her hair pin and looked very tense. Something told me this wasn't over yet. The next thing I knew, we took to the skies, as Butch urged the pegasi into the air. Collin freaked out when we left the ground as he became suddenly aware of the wings attached to the horses up front. His face filled with a look of sheer terror, which I thought was a bit of an overreaction, but boy was I wrong.

It was at that instant that something slammed into the chariot and knocked Collin off his feet. He hit his head against the metal siding and slid to the back as Butch tried to stabilize the ride. Luckily, the rest of had a fair grip and were relatively unshaken. I mustered the courage to look over the edge to see an enormous bird circling beneath us. I The other two were quickly approaching from the right.

Once again, Claire seemed to have pulled a bow out of no where and was firing volley after volley towards the monster below. "Get down, Logan!" she shouted. I figured that I'd already slain my monster quota for the day, so I did.

I could feel the chariot rock as Butch struggled to maintain control of the pegasi who did not look pleased in the slightest to be sharing their air space. They veered sharply to the left as a bird attacked from the right and Collin almost spilled out of the chariot. Things weren't looking good, but they looked even worse when one of the birds came in for a close-up. In fact, it wasn't a bird at all! Well, it was. Half bird. Half woman. A harpy, if my mythological memory served me correctly. It let out a terrible screech as it reared back it's horrible talons, but exploded in a puff of golden dust as an arrow pierced its heart. We left the dust floating in the wind, but two more screeches followed us.

I decided that I had seen enough, so I grabbed a hold of Collin's leg just in case, and I closed my eyes for the next few moments. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but there were several more screeches, an explosion of feathers, and a lot more gold dust before things finally settled down.

I slowly opened my eyes when I deemed it was safe and chanced a glance over the edge. Now, if you think the window seat of an airplane is the way to go, you've got to try flying over the state of New York in a chariot sometime. It was absolutely beautiful. Trees as far as the eye could see and glistening pools of water dotted the landscape. We all lost track of our time staring off into the distance, until we began our peaceful decent. I looked down to see the most incredible sight of all.

It was like a return to ancient Greece with huge buildings with marble columns dominating the area. Strawberry patches stretched far and wide, and in the middle of it all was a big blue mansion. I could feel the atmosphere change as we passed over head. I was not longer afraid. I felt safe. I felt at home.

We gently pulled into a stable and were swarmed by a bunch of blonde haired blue eyed kids who scarily resembled Claire. Yet another reinforcement I was in heaven, but I remained skeptical. The room buzzed with voices asking how it went or if we were alright, and welcoming Claire back. I was lost in all of the confusion, and just let myself move with the crowd. I could finally feel the blood loss from the spear setting in and I was feeling pretty woozy.

I stumbled, but thankfully Brian grabbed me, "I gotcha buddy. You're safe now." I couldn't help but smile. It had been a long day, so I decided it might be a good time for a nap. Unfortunately, I was a lot bigger than Brian, so when I collapsed I took him down with me. A bunch of those blonde kids helped grab me and Collin, and then I blacked out. Again.

I had several weird dreams like the one from before, so I can't say that I slept well exactly. I tossed and turned for who knows how long, before I finally woke up in a strange bed in an ever stranger room. A girl with light brown hair walked in about that time and looked ecstatic to see me awake. I wasn't too upset to see a friendly place myself. "Where am I?" I managed to grumble out as I sat up in bed.

"Eat," she ordered, handing me a bowl of golden pudding and a glass of cool liquid. "I've left you clean clothes hear. Chiron will want to speak with you when you are dressed." And with that, she left me to my breakfast. Or lunch. I could really tell what time of day it was.

I ate a spoonful of the pudding, expecting tapioca, but was pleasantly surprised by the taste of warm blackberry cobbler and ice cream like my mother used to make. The drink was no less enjoyable. It was a dark blue, but tasted of sweet, ice cold lemonade like I used to sell in the summer. The meal was simple, but it was the best I'd had in a long time, and I could feel it in my bones. I sat and digested for a moment before I mustered the energy to climb out of bed.

I put on the cargo shorts and the bright orange tee-shirt with a pegasi that reaad Camp Half-Blood that the girl had given me. There the word was again. Half-blood. It was time for answers.


End file.
